Wash had team meeting.

He is funny to watch after those.

"I said what needed to be said. When I have something to say, they hear me."

The Rangers do have a veteran core - Beltre, Andrus, Rios and Choo are all veteran players.

Getting sloppy comes with losing. I mentioned that above.

Looks like Wash's message was likely something like what I've heard him say before:
1. You get paid like professionals - You better play like professionals.
2. Fans pay to come see professional baseball and if they don't see it, they'll quit coming.
3. Yes, we have injuries and guys here that didn't start the season - but they are getting paid like everyone else and need to perform.
4. There are plenty of guys waiting to get here to compete, if someone doesn't want to compete or be here... we'll find someone else.

Wash buzz words: - professional, go out there everyday, compete

I think "learn how to win" was also in there several times and thats the only real issue at this point. It's disappointing to see Elvis do what he's doing not just because he should be better, but because he should be showing Odor how to get it done.

Say what you want about Michael Young and his trade requests/position moves, his "leadership" that was often dismissed comes down to the fact that he was always professional and never had focus lapses like we're seeing from guys like Elvis. In turn, you aren't setting the tone for the pups as you should be.

Good point about Young. His skills were declining by the team started peaking, but he absolutely set the right, professional tone for the young guys - which helped lay the foundation for a winner. The slop we're seeing out of someone like Elvis is completely inexcusable, losing or not.

Yes:

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"learn how to win"

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Forgot that one.

Regarding Elvis... I know he is getting most of the attention, and rightly so. Signs signing his 8 year extension in April 2013... his numbers have regressed. He is 25 and should be heading in the more productive range... not less. We've hashed his situation quite a bit.

However, there is more that can be done by several.

Choo hasn't done all that I've thought he could.

The team overall needs to come together. Team chemistry has been greatly affected. Robertson mentioned they are finally getting to know each other.

But the truth is... winning is as much a learned part of sports as it is just being better. Players feed on each other and plays can build momentum.

We need a spark. Hope it came last night.

Gimenez is an easy guy to like. Apparently he went up to coach in the 4th and offered his services to pitch. Apparently he and Weaver were on the same team, last time Gimenez pitched and Weaver was barking at him last night about his 36 ERA.

Sardinas is batting .304\1HR in Round Rock (AAA). Think he wants to get back to the $how?!

Any team that gets swept at home in consecutive blowouts by the got damned Astros (who came in with a 7 game losing streak) to supplant them as The Worst Team in Baseball deserves to play in front of an empty stadium.

I know there are injuries, but this team has clearly gone Brazil.

F 'em.

[This message has been edited by Adam87inSA (edited 7/11/2014 12:58p).]

Nobody could make a winner out of this current roster.

But with that being said, there are components of this team (like Elvis Andrus) which go a long way in proving that the "baserunning, defense and team" that is Ron Washington's supposed strong suit is a load of crap.

Adam

I think teams are never as bad as they may seem... never as good as they seem.

With all the injuries, you have to understand expectations. Specifically around the SP:

Darvish (17 - GS) - Ace
Colby (16 GS) - Returned from hip replacement surgery after the season started. - 6.54 ERA
Nick Martinez (11 GS) - Was supposed to be at AA. - 5.10 ERA
Robbie Ross (9 GS) - two years in the BP, first season as a SP in MLB. 0 GS in MLB prior to season.
Tepesch (9 GS) - Should have been in AA in 2013 but called on as a SP in 2013. 2014 began in AAA.
Perez (8 GS) - 1st real season as SP in MLB.
Saunders (8 GS)- Nobody from crap heap.
Scheppers (4 GS) - Really a RP attempting to make it in rotation.
Harrison (4 GS) - Trying to return from back surgery in 2013.
Baker (3 GS) - I'm not real sure how he plays in, other than he has been an "emergency" SP called upon to fill-in.
Mikolas (2 GS) - Traded for in Dec 2013 as a swap of nobodies. - 12.46 ERA
Irwin (1 GS) - Claimed off waivers in May. - 6.75 ERA

That is our rotation.
An Ace
A guy returning from hip replacement surgery
3 guys who should be at AA.

Position guys:
C - Gimenez - 31 yo AAA guy
C - Chirinos - 30 yo AAA guy
1B - Pena - found on the scrap heap mid-season
2B - Odor - Another AA guy.
DH - ? - I'm not sure that we have a DH

So we are really more of a minor league team than a MLB team.

And Wash sucks strategically so he should be fired, right?

mhayden

quote:

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But with that being said, there are components of this team (like Elvis Andrus) which go a long way in proving that the "baserunning, defense and team" that is Ron Washington's supposed strong suit is a load of crap.

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You are SO right... Wash brings SO much more to the team than limiting him to those things.

Soto arrested by grapevine police for Marijuana possession

[This message has been edited by Tmacsdaman (edited 7/11/2014 2:15p).]

What?

He was just playing 1B for RR...he was in the game as C on Tuesday...

I think he was framed by some Austin Hippies.

BTW... was it in a package mailed via FedEx to his dog?

I'm giving Choo a bit of a pass due to a bum ankle, but I'd definitely like to see more.

I went to watch that mess in person last night. It's just bad baseball in so many ways. Even little things like hitting cutoff men seems to be beyond them, or when they hit one, a **** relay throw follows.

Yikes... That Trout HR...

BRAVO! BRAVO!

Pena... that's the margin between effort and commitment.

Better tonight for sure. Disappointed that Wash pulled Tepesch at 90 pitches when I think he could have kept going.

After three straight hits given up and third time through the line up issues?

Wash gave him more than enough leash.

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Wash gave him more than enough leash.

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Agreed.

He only threw 90 pitches... but they were a hard quality 90 pitches.

Pitching and D craps the bed last night. Offensive craps it tonight.

Elvis

quote:

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And Wash sucks strategically so he should be fired, right?

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Absolutely.

Eventually the "hey the guy makes bonehead in-game decisions but the players play hard for him" things starts ringing pretty hollow when you start approaching 100 losses in 2014 after a collapse in 2012 as well as 2013.

Just making sure.

JD shouldn't be far behind, then.

[This message has been edited by Corleoneag99 (edited 7/13/2014 3:52p).]

Only if you think a coach and a GM perform the same duties.

More like doodies this year, amirite?

They'll go into the break losing 22 or 25?

I may be off a game.

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Only if you think a coach and a GM perform the same duties.

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Only if you think an organizational failure for the third year in a row is only on the manager?

quote:

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Only if you think an organizational failure for the third year in a row is only on the manager?

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Or only if you think Jon Daniels has as many skins on the wall as GM as Ron Washington does as manager?

I've seen JD make enough shrewd moves over the year to put this franchise in a good position.

I've also seen Ron Washington bunt in the 2nd inning and the wheels absolutely fall off a mega-talented team in crunch time enough times.

This is no doubt a bad roster the Rangers are rolling out right now, but it's now 22 losses in 25 games bad. 8 errors in the last 6 games bad. He's completely lost this team.

Ok so Wash has no skins on the wall and is solely responsible for collapsing three years in a row?

Seems dead on to me.

But now I'm confused why the GM and owners would still keep him on? He should have been fired already based on the account above.

quote:

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Ok so Wash has no skins on the wall and is solely responsible for collapsing three years in a row?

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I'm not sure anyone has ever said he was solely responsible for the collapses.

That doens't mean a big chunk of his responsibility as manager is to keep that from happening.

If not, then it goes back to the "what exactly does the manager do?" defense... which is a pretty bad one to use... "He makes no difference anyways, may as well pay him millions!"

quote:

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But now I'm confused why the GM and owners would still keep him on? He should have been fired already based on the account above.

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If the GM and owners had fired him then there wouldn't be a post about him needing to be fired.

Coming into this season with the roster he was handed, it was a make or break season for Washington. Had Texas missed the playoffs again he would have been shown the door. The ridiculous # of injuries changed that and essentially gave him a pass on the 2014 season being bad.

But not this bad. Right now this is shaping up to be the worst Rangers team in almost 30 years. That's something a coach just removed from two World Series appearances would survive... not so sure a coach coming off of two regular season collapses will.

Ron will likely be back, but it's not a given anymore if this team hits 95 losses.

So Wash isn't solely responsible; he's just mainly responsible. 95 losses this year is on Wash.

Based on the above JD is firing him tomorrow or he should be fired too for not dealing with the problem.

If your argument is only able to go to one extreme or the other, I guess so.

Thankfully rational people don't have to be on one extreme or the other.

He's a statistically poor managerial coach - there's been plenty of data and personnel moves to back that up.

His hallmarks were "defense and baserunning", which have not been good the last few years.

When those fail what people have fallen back on are "the players like playing for him" -- yet that didn't prevent an absolute collapse in 2012, an underachieving 2013, and a team on pace for 95 losses in 2014.

So I guess I'll turn it around -- since we're going to ignore the reasons why he shouldn't have the job, why not list out the reason why he should?

Or just a quick one-liner reply of nonsense about "Ron should be fired tomorrow or JD should be fired or the entire ownership should be stripped of the team or the Rangers should be moved to San Antonio." if that's the route you'd like to continue.

Well let's clarify first. Are you not saying Wash should be fired because he's the main problem?

Maybe I misinterpreted your earlier posts do agsin, please clarify and then I'll answer your question.

Wash is a problem. His team is not sound fundamentally, nor has it been for a long time. He's not the main problem, but he's one of them.

I just think we're seeing the life cycle of a players coach. When you have strong veteran leadership and things are going pretty well, it can be hunky-dory. But as time passes, the core veteran leaders of the team eventually become guys like Elvis who have known nothing but Wash and have become poster children for undisciplined baseball. Too many bad decisions, too little focus, and too much grabass from what should be a key leader on this team.

I think these discussions are necessary in analyzing where a team is... and what direction it is headed.

I think it is foolish to try to say something so narrow as "his hallmarks are defense and baserunning."
I think it is equally foolish to try to say something like, "He has won."

Personally, I'll break the two apart - JD and Wash... I'll even add Ownership and Players.

Ownership
I haven't heard anything abou the Ownership group that leads me to believe they are an issue. They don't inject themselves or make power plays.

I like the Ownership and what they bring. This season and recent short-comings are no negative reflection of this ownership group.

JD
I've liked JD's approach. The personell he has assembled - Coaches, Minor league coaching, Drafts\Prospects. MLB players... Hell, he has assembled a hell of a DL team.

He hasn't been perfect... he has had some misses, some wins...

Wash
I've always spoken positively about Wash. The team hasn't performed to my liking. The WS loss... he did everything to position them. He brings the right attitude. He doesn't accept losing. He DOES put a focus on D. He seems to be liked by his players... and when I consider the Ws\Ls of the team based on player personel... I was VERY pleased with where we were a month ago. The team has been free-falling, and we'll see what he can do to right it.

Players
The injuries have been devastating and overwhelming. Nothing anyone could have predicted or projected. No poor training\conditioning.

Yes, some players have been underperforming.

The Injuries... if you don't at least consider the injuries... no fault of anyone... then you are missing too much.

Andrus has been a disappointment. I'm not sure what his issue is, but he has not progressed the past 3 years. I don't know if it is the contract he signed... if it is he has tuned out Wash. I don't know if he is stung by the Kinsler and Hamilton trades... the pressure of knowing Profar and Odor and Sardinas are rising... He alone has been the biggest failure and disappointment of this season, IMO.

He came up at 20 batting .267 with an OBP of .329, with 6 HRs, 8 triples and 33 SB. An age when most are producing like that at A+ or AA at the highest.
He is now 25... batting .265 with an OBP of .313 with 2 HRs (projects to 3 for the year), 0 triples (projects to 0 for the year) and 20 SB (projects to 34 for the year).

His fielding % is relatively unchanged. His SB% is at 68%.

If he isn't being actively shopped... I think you bring in Sardinas and let him start. I don't blame JD for the contract (which appears to be overly inflated, now), or surrounding personell (JD) or coaching (Wash). At the end of the day... IMO, this is on Andrus. He is an established veteran.

After that... I don't see any veterans stepping up, while I see plenty of guys working to earn spots on the team.
Kuddos to:
Smolinski*
Kouz*
Tolleson
Tepesch
Adduci*
Odor
Sardinas*
Gimenez
Chirinos

That's 9 guys who have exceeded what anyone could have asked for. *Guys with a higher BA than Andrus. Odor (.260) and Gimenez (.261) could be above Andrus (.265) in one game.

There has to be some credit for JD and Wash to have pulled as many scrap heap players into the mix and still be fielding a team.

We can cry about the WS collapse of Cruz and Feliz. We could talk about the collapse of 2012 with Hamilton missing a routine flyball. We could cry that Holland blames his dog (non-baseball related), Perez needed TJ surgery... Colby had hip replacement (non-baseball realted AFAIK) and Harrison's back failed him (non-baseball related)... or that Fielder needed a non-baseball related fusion.

None of these things can be blamed on Ownership, JD, or Wash. The individual non-baseball injuries are noone's blame. Ownership, JD, nor Wash couldn't have foreseen them, nor planned for them.

We can argue the wisdome of Feliz, Schepper & Ross. Not having them in the BP is inconsequential in this season.

Sometimes you have a crappy season in baseball. 2014 is a crappy season for Texas.

[This message has been edited by DallasAg 94 (edited 7/14/2014 2:01p).]